DACA Countdown Continues As Trump Sticks To Guns

Today marks 1 February. DACA expires in 31 Days and 20 hours at the time of writing if the Countdown Clock is accurate.

Make no mistake about it. Though many thought that President Donald Trump’ SOTU address was more bi-partisan than ever keeping in mind the upcoming 2018 mid-term elections, when it comes to matter of immigration he is going full-steam ahead, serving his base the tough talk they want whilst forcing a difficult choice on Democrats who have made protecting immigrant communities their so-called ‘red line’.

Furthermore, according to a CBS News–YouGov survey which took place in the immediate aftermath of the State of the Union address, some 72 percent of Americans who had watched the speech claimed they agreed with Trump’s plans on immigration, while 28 percent were opposed.

This leaves the Democrats in a very tough position.

Having tried to sway his hand once already with the government shutdown, the clock is now ticking against them to come up with a plan, because most of them by now realize the current US President will have no problem letting that clock run out knowing full well it is up to the other side to provide him with an agreement.

If he lets DACA run out, his base will not hate him for it; if he doesn’t, the Democrats must give him something in return.

The single most memorable line of the SOTU address, which was repeated on all international news channels that reported on the speech, stated correctly that “Americans are dreamers too.”

Veteran GOP strategist Mac Stipanovich summed it up best when he said: “Basically the trade-off from Trump to Democrats is ‘I will give you probably more than you expected from me on Dreamers if you will give me the rest of the Stephen Miller agenda.’ ”